#2023 writing roundup

[hgejfmw-hgejhsf]

2023 Writing Roundup

I had to scroll back pretty far to find the tags for this, so if I missed someone who did this already and tagged me, I'm sorry if I double tag you at the end! But thanks to @kiwiana-writes and @inexplicablymine for tagging me in this roundup post!

As the post is going to reveal, I, uh, only just got back into writing a few months back, after taking almost ten years off due to, honestly, a lack of inspiration. I'd lost my voice, and I didn't suspect I'd ever love anything enough to write again, until this little pink book came barrelling into my life in June, followed swiftly by a little Amazon Prime movie in August, and both changed my life forever.

So without further ado, here's my writing roundup for 2023:

January

Nada

February

Zilch

March

Nothin'

April

Not a damn thing

May

Nope, nothing here either

June

Keep right on going, my friends

July

29th - The Lake House The night following the election, Alex has a surprise planned for Henry. A chance to make some new history.

August

8th - What If I Do? What was Henry thinking when he left Alex at the lake house? What were the days that followed like for him before Alex showed up at his door and forced him to face not only Alex, but himself?

18th - Gravity The first time that Henry enters Alex's orbit, at the Melbourne Climate Conference, and all of their subsequent meetings leading to their "violent altercation" at the royal wedding. Inspired by a post about how Henry very pointedly chose not to shake Alex's hand in the receiving line after the wedding and what that could have meant.

19th - The Rope Henry's reaction to Alex nearly telling him that he loves him at the lake house in Texas.

19th - A brief spark of a moment: A Red, White & Royal Blue drabble collection These drabbles are simply my personal challenge to contain myself to 100 words when I've always been…long-winded.

20th - Retaliation Alex and Henry, now dating, attend another state dinner, where they're unexpectedly seated directly next to each other.

21st - Every Version Alex does a magazine photoshoot, and the day that the magazine arrives, he wants Henry to look at it first.

23rd - On my heart just like a tattoo Alex and Henry are married, and on the day of the ceremony, they decide to do something special.

23rd - Ghosts After Henry leaves the lake house, Alex does not go after him. He doesn't storm Kensington in a fit of pique to call Henry an "obtuse fucking asshole." Instead, the pair spend nearly a year apart, both wrecked and miserable, until they find themselves on the list of speakers for an international conference.

27th - Darkest before the dawn The immediate aftermath of Henry discovering the email leak in the movie-verse.

28th - When I taste tequila Henry’s drunk. If the growing mountain of empty shot glasses, drained and discarded lime wedges, and gritty layer of salt on the table in front of him are any indication, he’s very drunk. Only, his brain is having a difficult time catching on to the fact that he’s drunk. And when his brain is this far behind the rest of him, Henry tends to find himself in precarious situations, with no real conscious thought as to how he got there or how he might have avoided them.

September

4th - The Maldives Inspired by a conversation about the zoomed-in and transcribed article about Henry in People Magazine from the movie and how the photos look like they could have been faked.

After their conversation with the king and greeting the crowd at Buckingham Palace, Alex and Henry ride back to Kensington. Alex mentions that his offer to fly to the Maldives is still valid, and Henry admits that he's never been, which sparks a discussion about some of the lengths the crown would go to in order to convince the world that Henry was straight. Alex considers what Henry must have gone through, and the two of them discuss their past and how it might have been different.

11th - Modification to the map of you Henry comes back from a month-long trip with his ear pierced, and Alex has no idea.

14th - Et Max Laryngitis Alex gets laryngitis, and Henry decides to have a bit of fun at his expense.

23rd - How bizarro is that Alex gets food poisoning, and Henry takes care of him…sort of.

27th - Royal Assent “If the boyfriend of a prince of England fails English Legal History, you’ll be the one to blame,” Alex murmurs as Henry sucks a bruise on his neck. Henry had arrived home from the shelter to find Alex buried under a mountain of books, his glasses askew and his hair wild, wearing the same bewildered expression Henry had seen as he walked out the door earlier that morning.

As he climbs into Alex’s lap, jumping a little as a particularly sharp corner of a hardcover book pokes him in the arse, he can feel the tension in Alex’s shoulders relax, ever so slightly.

“You aren’t going to fail. In fact, I’m going to help you,” Henry says, each word separated by a kiss to Alex’s chest, neck, cheek, and finally lips.

OR

Alex is trying really hard to study for a law school exam, and Henry takes it upon himself to...assist.

28th - 5 Times Henry Hated New Year's + 1 Time He Didn't “This is my curse,” Henry mutters, and Pez laughs across from him.

“You can hardly be responsible for the weather.”

“So the glaring fact that every single New Year’s Eve on record in my life has been an utter disaster means absolutely nothing to you?”

“We’re going to make it, so no, it means nothing to me,” Pez says with cheerful optimism despite the constant fluttering of white beyond the plane windows.

OR

5 times throughout his life that Henry's New Year's countdown has been ruined, and 1 time that it isn't.

29th - Stars in the sky are the stars in my eyes The ding of a notification sounds in the otherwise silent living room. As Henry’s eyes continue to scan the page of his book, ignoring his phone, Alex can’t help but glance down at the illuminated screen between them on the couch.

“Is that…a horoscope?” Alex asks, immediately retrieving the phone to confirm his suspicions at the exact moment Henry grabs for it a beat too late. He watches the bright shade of red crawl up Henry’s neck to burn just beneath the skin of his ears.

“Perhaps,” is all he supplies, his voice muffled as he buries his face far too close to the book’s pages to realistically read anything written there.

***

Henry gets his daily horoscope, and Alex is intrigued, so Henry shows him the constellations.

30th - What started in beautiful rooms Henry’s never taken any extra care in his appearance when playing polo. Certainly, he’s given an adequate amount of time and effort to ensure that he appears composed, but the sport itself lends to a bit of chaos, between the pounding of hooves and the whipping of the wind in a frantic rush. It’s all incredibly…well, wild.

No, Henry’s never taken any extra care in his appearance when playing polo…except today.

OR

Henry's point of view during the charity polo match.

October

1st - Do we still have forever? Alex has a sudden, serious allergic reaction, and Henry can't help but think about losing him.

2nd - Dear Dad I should start from the beginning, or rather, I should start by telling you how I got here, to this moment, writing you this letter.

OR

Henry writes a letter to his father on his wedding day.

3rd - Liquor was the only love I'd known June finds them at some point and steals Henry away to gab at the bar. Alex watches them from afar, wondering what they could possibly be talking about that has June nearly falling off her barstool laughing, until the crowd overtakes him again.

3rd - Then came a baby boy with long eyelashes Following their initial spirited entrance into Alex's hotel room following the DNC, Henry asks Alex about his encounter with Miguel in the bar.

13th - Volume Control Prompt Fulfillment: I need someone to write a FirstPrince fic where Henry overhears Alex saying "Henry is so annoying I can't stand him" so Henry says "kneel then" and it short circuits Alex's brain.

20th - 5 Times Alex Made a Disney Movie Reference + 1 Time Henry Did Alex and Henry have watched a significant amount of Disney movies, and well, Alex tends to have questions.

20th - You can't escape this drying ink “There’s…a matter…that requires your attention, in the Red Room. I’d be happy to escort you there.” She glances sideways at Henry’s PPOs, who shift in place, readying themselves to follow where she leads. Henry nods again, uncertain what other options lie open to him even if he wished to take one.

OR

Henry's thoughts at the state dinner as Amy leads him to the Red Room.

31st - Save a horse Alex convinces Henry to dress up as cowboys for Halloween and quickly realizes that Henry dressed as a cowboy was not something he was entirely prepared for.

31st - I'm not a robot without emotions, I'm not what you see At the royal wedding, Alex drinks and dances and contemplates both of the princes.

November

1st - The Candy Tax Ten-year-old Alex has invited his new friend Henry, who just moved to Texas from England with his family so that his movie star dad can be based in the US to shoot more movies, over for a sleepover the night before Halloween.

1st - Through the summer and the fall, we had each other, that was all The mountains are on fire. Red, orange, and yellow leaves cover thousands of acres of land, and the peeking of the sun over the distant horizon illuminates the hovering fog, creating the illusion of a persistent fire burning brightly without causing any damage. Instead, it paints a masterful landscape for an early morning riser to gaze at as he sips at a cup of Earl Grey and marvels at the fact that this beauty is a sight he has somehow been blessed to see.

2nd - Heart enough "...there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement."

Instead of Alex flying to London, Henry is sent to D.C. to do the post Cakegate damage control just in time for Alex and June's annual Halloween party.

2nd - Life is a maze, and love is a riddle Alex, June, and Nora take Henry to his first haunted corn maze.

3rd - All at once, everything is different, now that I see you Alex throws out some possible suggestions for his and Henry's first ever couples Halloween costume, but Henry has something else in mind.

3rd - Halloween at Kensington The Fox-Mountchristen-Windsors may not be able to go out trick-or-treating like a normal family, but they can still celebrate Halloween in their own special way.

4th - No fear, no fences, nobody - no reins Henry takes Alex to a nearby farm outside Austin to teach him how to ride a horse. Eventually, they stop at a log cabin in the words for the night, and they decide to try another form of riding.

4th - I don't know why all the trees change in the fall Alex has had a terrible day. It's raining, it's cold, and he's absolutely miserable. All he wants to do is dry off and collapse in bed. But when he walks through the door, Henry is ready and waiting to take care of him. He even has a surprise that he's cooking up in the kitchen. And Alex gets to take a trip down memory lane.

5th - A-gourd-able “Oh, so that’s the reason you wanted a child so badly. Not for the opportunity to nurture and guide and love another human being that you helped to create, but for the perks of walking around to strangers’ homes asking for candy that our baby can’t even eat.”

OR

Alex and Henry take their daughter trick or treating for the first time, and it's Henry's first time as well.

5th - I want to play a game Alex and Henry agree to watch all of the Saw movies to determine if one or both of them will end up too scared to continue. Do they make it through the series? Or does one of them give in and lose the wager that they've made?

5th - Barbecue Sauce "I want to see your mouth covered in barbecue sauce. And then, I want to lick it off."

6th - With magic soakin' my spine, can you read my mind? What happened after Alex, June, and Nora played their little HRH Prince Henry Fact Sheet drinking game? Well, in this version of events, Alex finds a mysterious bottle containing what appears to be a magic spell for "Clarity of Mind." As dumb as it seems, he does the ritual and reads the incantation and moves on, flying to London for damage control. But when he shakes Henry's hand, suddenly things change, and Alex realizes that maybe magic is real after all.

6th - Don't need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo (podfic included) Henry takes Alex on a trip to visit...a couple of old feathered friends.

6th - It's autumn in New York; it's good to live it again It's the first day of fall in New York, and Alex comes home from class with a special surprise for Henry.

6th - Reciting to the Waterloo Vase: Drabbles for the RWRDrabblePrompts Tumblr

13th - Wind me up, fill your cup like a river, drunk on watching me drown Henry sighs. "Is that the time you threatened to push me into the Thames?"

OR

That time Alex threatened to push Henry into the Thames.

23rd - The injury of finally knowing you (a birthday present for @ships-to-sail) Henry's thoughts just before and immediately after the countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve.

23rd - Smutsgiving 2023 Alex's heart rate monitor on his Apple Watch alerts him to some strenuous activity…at the worst possible time.

December

1st - We need a little Christmas The one where I let a random Christmas word generator choose a drabble prompt for a Christmas advent. Enjoy!

20th - Four Christmases From Washington to Austin, London to New York, Alex and Henry spend Christmas with different members of their families from 2020 - 2023. Funny couples' Christmas sweaters, festive swimsuits, statement-making ties, and family pajamas all bring lots of laughs, some tears, and a bit of fun to be had by all along the way.

25th - Oh what a laugh it would have been When Alex dresses as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, their five-year-old daughter makes an extra special, last-minute Christmas wish.

AND

Alex leaves his Santa suit on for a private evening with Henry while everyone else is snug in their beds.

Unpublished but Completed

December 30th - Take Your Time A New Year's Eve AU set in New York City (and that's all I'm willing to give away...for now)

January 1st - NYE Gift Exchange Fic

Tagging all of my lovelies who may or may not have already done this (please ignore this if you have!): @adreamareads @affectionatelyrs @anincompletelist @cha-melodius @clottedcreamfudge @cricketnationrise @daisymae-12 @duchessdepolignaca03 @gayrootvegetable @getmehighonmagic @happiness-of-the-pursuit @heybuddy-drabbles @indomitable-love @indestructibleheart @leaves-of-laurelin @leojfitz @littlemisskittentoes @lizzie-bennetdarcy @magicandarchery @ninzied @priincebutt @read-and-write- @rockyroadkylers @roseharpermaxwell @ships-to-sail @songliili @ssmtskw @statueinthestonetoo @stereopticons @suseagull04 @thinkof-england @tintagel-or-cockleshells @user-anakin @vanillahigh00 @violetbaudelaire-quagmire @whimsymanaged @wordsofhoneydew

[chicgeekgirl89]

2023 Writing Roundup

Thanks to @liminalmemories21 and @ladytessa74 for the tags!

I guess the next time I'm mad at myself for not writing more I'll just...tell myself to shut up lol. Holy heck this is a lot of fic.

January

Paper Rings- A 5+1 of Tarlos wedding planning. I adore this one.

Packing a Piece- Early days Tarlos, T.K. taking care of Carlos as his feelings grow stronger.

My Pain Fits in the Palm of Your Freezing Hand- What a labor of love, Carlos' POV during the Ice Storm arc.

February

I Get it From You- 5+1 of habits the boys have picked up from each other. So fun to write!

Will You Take What's Left of Me?- Me trying to figure out the mess of Carlos having a secret wife 🙄

Like I'm Gonna Lose You- T.K. saving Carlos' life after his abduction and the aftermath.

Glitter and Be Gay- This one is so freaking funny lol. Carlos hates glitter and he suffers because of it. T.K. is amused.

How to Say Goodbye- My last NCIS LA Densi fic. That fandom has meant the world to me and I'm sad the show is over.

March

Love is Sitting on the Bathroom Floor- T.K. has food poisoning, Carlos takes care of him, it's so sweet!

The Luck O' the Irish- I truly love how this one turned out, my little fic about Tarlos doing a class project with their child in the future and Carlos being a neurotic dad lol.

April

I Won't Say I'm in Love- Carlos falling in love with T.K., Adriana and Francesca being their best/worst selves. This one has some of the best dialogue, god they're fun.

Mothers and Sons- Andrea caring for T.K. as they wedding plan. Made myself cry with this one.

May

Shiner- Coda for 4x15, Carlos finding out about T.K.'s black eye and taking care of him.

A Helping Hand- Lololol a fic based on my real life experience with rain and smoke detectors.

June

Happy Campers- Boys camping trip with whumped Carlos is just what the summer ordered!

July

We Have Suffered Enough- 4x16 post-ep. God did they really need the Huntington's scare?!

Day Zero- T.K. struggles after being drugged by Sadie.

August

Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting- This might be the best fic of the year. Mama and Papa Reyes getting into trouble at a bar with T.K. and poor Carlos having to sort it all out is the stuff my dreams are made of.

September

Rugby King- My sweet, sweet Heartstopper boys. I was so nervous writing this fic and I'm so glad I did. Whumpy Nick and worried Charlie are such perfection and it was so fun to jump into this fandom!

October

Come Sail Away- My magnum opus for this year lol. The longest thing I've written to date and a love letter to the drama and antics of Below Deck. Also my first AU! (Technically...)

November

Tío T.K.- T.K. being a freaking badass and helping Carlos' nephew. Adriana and Francesca return. A joy from start to finish.

Phew! What a year! Thanks to everyone who has read my work this year!

Tagging @lemonlyman-dotcom, @bonheur-cafe, @carlos-in-glasses, and @thisbuildinghasfeelings!

[littlemisskittentoes]

2023 Writing Roundup

okay chickie wings! first and foremost, a massive thank you to @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @rockyroadkylers and @songliili for tagging me in this game. also pretending that @read-and-write- and @anincompletelist tagged me in this one because they were kind enough to tag me in the Year In Review that i never got around to doing

without further ado...

2023 (kittentoes's version)

January through August

nada. kittentoes was a mere lurker.

September

boxing with no gloves- G, 2.2k

Henry is pushing his arms through the woolen sleeves of a peacoat. He faces Alex and there’s no softness left in his features. He’s genuinely angry this time. None of the endeared exhaustion of his antics Alex is so used to seeing from him. None of the fondness that always plays hide and seek in his eyes when he looks at Alex. Henry looks blank and placid. His press face, edged with a hint of venom. And Alex has seen versions of this face. He’s seen a calmer facade of it, one that had boarded a plane back to England by the time Alex woke up. There’s something cold settling in Alex’s stomach. A kind of panic crawling up his throat. There’s ice dancing at his fingertips, but his hands are sweating, and oh God, Henry’s leaving again. --- Or, Alex and Henry get into a fight. Henry tries to leave, Alex needs him to stay. So he does.

i'd be smart to walk away (but you're quicksand)- M, 3.6k

Henry remembers too, telling himself not to get too close. He remembers knowing intrinsically, unequivocally, that loving Alex would set him on fire. Now, here he is. Burning. Henry is alight and smoldering. And as naturally as Henry knew how combustible Alex would be then, he knows now that he is going to be left as nothing but ash and soot when Alex finally decides to walk away. Still, Henry can’t convince himself to pull the lever on the alarm to set off the sprinklers. He lets himself savor the flames. – or, five times that Henry convinced himself he couldn’t have Alex Claremont-Diaz, and one time he lets Alex convince him he can.

October

i'll love you when the ocean's dry- M, ficlet

“Getting into trouble without me, sweetheart?” “Alex, Alex, you’re going to be so bloody proud of me. Are you listening?” And Alex can hear the flush of Henry’s cheeks, the spark dancing in his eyes. “Pez, hush, Alex has to hear this. Alex, you’re listening, right?” And that wasn’t unusual either. More and more Henry had let Pez convince him to allow himself to loosen up a bit. More and more Henry had started slackening his hold on the carefully crafted veneer he had been trained for years to perfect. Every time, it takes Alex’s breath away. Alex loves every facet of Henry, each mask and every mood. But there’s something about seeing Henry settle into a kind of peace with himself that has Alex feeling like he’s falling in love all over again. He leans even further into the cushioned recliner and lets the drunken lilt of Henry’s voice ease something in his muscles. “I’m listening, baby. Go ahead.” — or, Henry is drunk, and Alex loves him completely.

we should just kiss (like real people do)- T, 2k, Junora

June hasn’t felt like she’s had a home in a long time. There was the house and Texas growing up, of course. But the inevitability of arguments turned silence left the walls feeling more haunted by memories, rather than preserving them. There was the Lake House. But the knowledge it would only ever be a short-lived reprieve made a kind of melancholy brush against the dock with each pass of the waves. There were the dorms of UT Austin, and Evan taking up most of the twin-sized mattress. But thinking too hard about that always made the resentment rear-up, bitter at the back of her throat before she was able to quell it back down. But the picture of Nora sprawled across her carpet, her halo of screens casting pale light along her cheekbones, dancing above her cupid’s bow. Nora’s curls falling into her face with the dip of her head towards the screen, fingertips rushing across the keyboard not daring to stray away long enough to push the strand back. It’s all so achingly familiar that for all June’s skill as a writer, her entire repertoire of connotations and words, she can’t for the life of her think of anything else. -- Or, Henry and June's PR stunt, from June and Nora's perspective.

when you say my name (i like the way it sounds)- G, 3.6k

When he looks back, he gives himself a moment to take it in. He basks in the sound of familiar laughter echoing around their kitchen in the simmering warmth and comfortability that comes with being sucked into Pez’s antics and lulled back by Bea’s steadiness. He revels in the swirl of Nora’s genius and calm of June’s kindness. It’s not quite the same as LA all those years ago. It doesn’t take him by surprise or feel novel anymore. But it's still that feeling of rightness, a crystal clear understanding that this, these people, will always be a kind of home to him. -- or, The Super Six take on a Halloween party. Henry, for once, let’s himself let loose. Drunk, uninhabited, and free to love Alex in public, Henry is happy. Alex stays sober to look after him, and he is so in love he could die.

November

you paint dreamscapes on the wall- E, 5k

“Fuck, H. What are you? A damn vampire?” And Henry loved this too. The way the fire in Alex never quite went out, just smoldered down to embers. He didn’t think he’d ever quite get used to Alex’s wit, his sheer audacity to taunt and pick at him. But Henry was sure he never wanted to, anyway. He loved that that audacity snuck through the cracks of following orders, and waiting in positions. In between the begging, and Alex only ever finishing with permission dripping from Henry’s lips, it was still there. And Christ, if it wasn’t the single-most precious thing Henry had been gifted the honor of experiencing. -- or, Alex is in his own head too much of the time. But Henry can always bring him back.

you call the shots babe (i just wanna be yours)- E, 9.9k

“I wish David were here.” The sigh from his lips rustles one of Alex’s curls loosened away from under the cap. Alex’s eyebrows scrunch together and there’s a new mask edging his features. One Henry can’t quite place in his filmy headspace. “Oh. I thought… Pez said you didn’t have a boyfriend?” The bark of laughter pulled from Henry’s throat is loud and unfettered. The kind of laugh he usually keeps hidden away or stifled behind the guard of a hand against his mouth. “No, no. I mean yes, Pez’s right. But David isn’t–” Another giggle breaks into the words. “David’s a beagle, Alex.” ___ or, Henry gets high, and Alex is everything he's ever wanted.

i know heaven's a thing (i go there when you touch me)- E, 17.2k

He’s never been much of a jealous man. He’s always been far more lured in by the tease of potential than seduced by the idea of possession. Henry isn’t owned by Alex. He chooses to give himself over. And now, watching Henry offer himself not just for Alex, but for Pez as well— Pez, this bright light of energy and unending kindness that has never done anything but protect Henry—well, Alex isn’t sure anything has ever quite knocked the breath out of him the same way the sight of it does. --- or, when Henry acts like a brat, Alex enlists Pez's help to remind him that he doesn't need to in order to get what he wants.

December

many times, many ways- M, 4.8k

The thing is, Alex knows he can’t replace the bittersweet wave of memories that swarm Henry’s head at the sight of snow flurries and smell of peppermint in the air. He doesn’t want to. He wants Henry to keep those close, even if it is through the sepia tone of melancholy. But Alex can’t help but wonder if maybe he can find a way to balance poignancy with something a bit easier. Something a little bit lighter. Something Henry can revisit to understand where he belongs, how he fits into the “happy” of it all any time he needs. He looks over to Henry, finally asleep against his chest. He takes in the gentle slope of Henry’s nose, the fluttered fan of eyelashes against moon-bathed cheeks. He fixates on the subtle canyon, the soft part of Henry’s lips, the phantom wind of a silent snore, and Alex knows: the very least he can do is try. — or, holidays have always come as a reminder to Henry of what he’s lost. But Alex always manages to remind him of everything he’s gained too.

all we know (is touch and go)- G, ficlet

“I had it under control, Alex. You can’t just swoop in anytime you think something might go wrong. You’re not bloody invincible. It’s high time you stopped acting like you are.” “Now where would be the fun in that, sweetheart? Can’t very well get you to play nurse for me if I stick by the sidelines, now can I?” Alex pulls out his best smirk, the one that usually convinces Henry to stop talking to kiss it off of him instead. The glare Henry shoots him makes it clear he’s not getting off that easy tonight. --- or, Alex gets hurt being the hero and Henry just wants him whole.

Coming Soon

PWP Onesot- featuring: somnophilia, Daddy Dom!Alex, so much dirty talk-- coming to an ao3 near you within the next few days

"don't you call him baby"- kensington divergence multichap, featuring: kittentoes's first oc, a lot of angst, alex with a boyfriend that is not henry-- coming to an ao3 near you within the next few months (the current, sole focus wip)

Aftercare Oneshot- featuring: safeword use, healthy communication, domestic!firstprince-- coming to an ao3 near you the next time i need a break from kensington

(Hopefully) Coming Later in 2024

"it always leads to you (in my hometown)"- the 'tis the damn season/childhood best friends to lovers au, featuring: dual timelines, baker!henry, an orion tattoo, and drunk love confessions

smokey smoke verse series- oneshots continuing the relationship established in "you call the shots babe (i just wanna be yours)

more kitten!henry

IM SO SORRY IF YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THIS, MY LIFE IS CHAOS

tagging some friends! @happiness-of-the-pursuit@matherines@inexplicablymine @wordsofhoneydew @firenati0n @read-and-write- @affectionatelyrs @saintlynomenclature @adreamareads @absoluteaudacitywrites @raysletters @daisymae-12 @ssmtskw @hypnostheory

[affectionatelyrs]

2023 Writing Roundup

Thank you to @anincompletelist @happiness-of-the-pursuit @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @littlemisskittentoes @rockyroadkylers @songliili and @xthelastknownsurvivorx for the tags

*Taps mic* is this thing on? Yeah? Great. Allow me to be somewhat sappy for a moment then.

I started writing in August of this year. As in, I haven't written fic/majorly creatively ever before this, and it's something that I never thought I would do. Until I did. And my goodness... I'm so insanely grateful that I decided to start. Writing has given me so much purpose - It's something I genuinely adore; it makes me incredibly happy that I get to share my words with all of y'all, and the people I've met have been so incredibly lovely. So, without further ado, here's what I've written in 2023! :)

January through July

Nothing, I was just an avid reader

August

Far too Enamored to be Content Now | M | 2k | One Shot

"You've been rather quiet all evening, H," Alex muses, trailing one long finger up the expanse of Henry's neck, higher, higher, high, until it lingers over his bottom lip. Taps it with the pad a few times. "Why don't you use that pretty mouth of yours to tell me what you want then, hmm?" Alex is expecting Henry's lips to pucker, their typical automatic response to this action. What he is not expecting, however, is the way Henry's lips slightly part before taking his finger slowly into his mouth and sucking, never once breaking eye-contact. - Henry is bloody starving.

You Came Out of Nowhere (And You Cut through All the Noise) | E | 10.9k | One Shot (with a bonus chapter)

Alex starts to feel worse about how he reacted to the man earlier — he’s usually all bark and no bite, but how is the bartender supposed to know that? Alex can be snarky, but he’s never cruel. Allowing his lips to quirk up into a small smile, he replies “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you, really.” “Well,” he says with a smirk, “in the event that you are lying to me simply to placate our earlier interaction, my shift ends in 15 minutes. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to stick around to chat with a perfect stranger?” Alex’s brain stutters for a moment at his facade being so transparent that it's all he can do to stutter out a “Yeah—um, yeah. Okay, sure.” Maybe he also gets stuck on the words perfect stranger, and the immediate thought of mmmm, perfect indeed that pops up in his brain as a result. He chooses to ignore that as well. - Or, Alex is feeling insecure after a bad date - Henry shows him that he doesn't have to be

September

All of This Silence and Patience (Pining and Anticipation) | T | 5.1k | One Shot

“I didn’t know that you were—” he cuts himself off, sliding a hand over his face. “I, um. Shit, sorry. I just meant, uh… Christ—” Alex saves Henry some breath by cutting him off. “Bi? Sure am.” “Since when?” Is Henry’s only response. Apparently, being in dangerously close proximity to pretty boys makes him a bit dim. Whatever. He’ll have time to reflect on this and feel utterly mortified later. Alex does the following in slow succession: smirks, cocks an eyebrow, looks Henry up and down once, and shrugs a shoulder. “I dunno. Suppose that’s a bit hard to pin down, sweetheart.” - Or, Alex (flirty) and Henry (flustered) are both hiding in a closet at a party for different reasons

Baby, You're Gonna Lose Your Own Game | E | 4k | One Shot

Alex thinks he understands why people get stupid, impulsive tattoos like their ex’s name now if the sudden urge to etch the word darling onto his hip in permanent ink is anything to go by. So, yeah, Alex supposes. Henry may still be maddening, but his mouth? His voice? Maybe it was always hot, actually, and the irritation he previously felt was just thinly veiled complete and utter attraction. That would check out. Hate has always been a multifaceted word, after all. - Or, Alex decides that he wants to fuck the British out of Henry while watching him speak at a gala

October

King of My Heart | E | 8.5k | One Shot

Alex, as always, is utterly captivating. He accepts his crown with grace and a crooked grin; it’s a duality that only he can pull off. Alex’s megawatt smile is brighter than the hundreds of multicolored shards of light reflecting off the mirrorball in the center of the room. Henry knows that Alex looks good on stage, he knows that Alex knows that he looks good on stage, and apparently, everyone else knows it as well. Henry thinks he sees a girl faint at the sight out of the corner of his eye. And yet, no one knows about Alex and him. Everyone in the crowd wants Alex, but it’s a losing battle — Henry already won that fight a couple of weeks ago. - Or, When Alex wins Prom King, Henry sneaks him away for a moment alone and realizes that his feelings may run deeper than their clandestine hookups suggest

Help Me Hold On to You | T | 3.2k | One Shot

“I can’t do this all the time, Alex,” Henry huffs out, arms crossed from the opposite end of the couch. “I’ve been more than happy to help, and I’ve been doing so as much as I can, but we need to talk about it. It’s been…a lot for me.” Too much. Henry doesn’t say it directly, but it’s the undercurrent of his words. Two words that Alex has heard many times in his life, over and over again until they became permanently pressed into his eyelids like a brand, reminding him of his state of being every time he so much as blinks. - Or, Henry isn't always able to give Alex the help he needs, which sends Alex into a spiral, but they'll always find a way to work things out together

November

Save a Horse, Ride a Princess | E | 8.6k | One Shot

“I have to say, this is all quite literal, don’t you think?” Alex wouldn’t know literal right now if it hit him in the head. “Huh?” Henry points at Alex: “Pillow Princess,” and then to himself: “Cowboy. Ready to ride and all that.” Alex nods dumbly. “Right.” - Or, Alex and Henry dress up as the ultimate couples costume for Halloween — themselves — and they both feel some kind of way about it

December

Gonna Give You Something (So You Know What’s on My Mind) | E | 11.3k | Two Shot

Alex hums, turning around to pull open the freezer drawer. “You want anything?” But Henry barely registers his question. Not when Alex is slightly bent over, allowing Henry a perfect view of his perfect ass. Each individual ridge of his spine is visible due to his lack of shirt. All of these things combined would normally be a large enough issue in itself to render Henry dumbstruck, except— Except, that’s not the only thing that Henry’s faced with. Right there, clear as day: blue lace, delicately peeking out from the waistband of his joggers. Henry’s hand immediately flies up to his cheek. The skin is hot to the touch, and he feels the imprint of where the material once lay like a brand. - Or, With the help of a white elephant gift, Henry learns that maybe the whole being-in-love-with-his-roommate thing isn’t as one-sided as he thought

Coming Soon

Double shot - my first ever multichap! :) Featuring sexting, falling in love in a coffee shop, and learning a lot about oneself - I'm incredibly excited for this one

Walk and Talk - a long one shot - College AU, irl epistolary, the literal act of walking and talking out of class and getting to know someone - this has been in the works for months

Henry is a painting (untitled) - Magical realism - Alex has a painting of a prince in his bedroom and one day it talks - a series of their conversations at night time in Alex's room, introspection, discussions of mental health, and falling in love

A secret birthday fic for @happiness-of-the-pursuit

A valentines day fic - Magical realism, Henry can see other people's future love lives and sets up shop on campus - Alex visits one day and Henry see's something he's never been able to see in his visions... himself

Coming... Eventually

Soulmate AU, beach at night, 5+1 love confession through non-verbal cues, companion fic to AOTSAP, and more

THANK U SO MUCH TO EVERYONE AGAIN. I genuinely couldn't do this without you. Fic and RWRB and all of y'all mean so fucking much to me. Thank you for an amazing year, and I'm so excited for what's to come

Tagging other ppl and literally anyone whose fics have ever inspired me bc y'all are so important - @kiwiana-writes @inexplicablymine @read-and-write- @clottedcreamfudge @everwitch-magiks @smc-27 @welcometololaland @whimsymanaged @tintagel-or-cockleshells @iboatedhere @indomitable-love @orchidscript @onward--upward @sparklepocalypse @dumbpeachjuice @dustratcentral @dustratcentral @firenati0n @gayrootvegetable @leaves-of-laurelin @lizzie-bennetdarcy @cultofsappho @cricketnationrise @nocoastposts @myheartalivewrites @matherines and @rmd-writes

[shivunin]

2023 Writing Roundup

Thank you for the tag @inquisimer! This is a really neat game c:

words posted: 392,883 (AO3) and ~70,748 (Tumblr)

additional words written: 90,683 (unfinished wips)

grand total of words: 554,312

fandoms: Dragon Age (and a lil bit of Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate)

highest kudos: *Tie between Saccharine and Between Strokes of Night at 107 kudos each (both smut with feelings haha)

highest hit oneshot: Also Between Strokes of Night at 1,244

new things I tried: New ships (Zevwarden and Fenhawke) and fan events for writing (the Big Bang, 14 Days of Dragon Age Lovers, and Zevwarden Week)

fic I spent the most time on: Katabasis. I don't think I've ever edited any piece as much as I edited this one.

fic I spent the least time on: Byways and Lay-Bys, which I scribbled out very quickly right before I left on a trip. I really wanted to post something on my birthday and on the other side of the country, so it had to be drafted in AO3 before we left.

favorite thing I wrote: So torn between As Two Reflected Stars (I am such a sucker for wound-tending and yearning and writing this was purely self-indulgent), Breath of Life (someone confronting their feelings after a near-death is also one of my favorite things) and A Golden Bell Hung in My Heart (which I wrote for a friend's birthday and is thematically The Last Unicorn meets Dragon Age; I think it's one of the best-composed things I've made to date).

favorite thing(s) I read:

Impact by Baejax (4,173 Words | Fenhawke): Wound-tending and yearning again haha. I really liked the way the author addressed memory and memory loss in this one.

Blue Shift by bloodbright (4,324 Words) : Loved this Mass Effect piece about what Shepard and their crew are like from an outsider perspective. Excellent noir-esque vibes

What to Do by Undomiel_Writes (1,039 Words | Shakarian): This fic has this lovely cadence to it, by which Garrus counts the time he's been waiting for Shepard to wake after the end of the third game. I think it's the one I reread the most this year, too haha

Iron Bound by loquaciousquark (96,959 | Fenhawke): This arranged marriage AU has everything: chivalry, forbidden lovers, a love triangle that is actually a triangle and well-written, absolutely gorgeous descriptions of landscape, really well-done character development and, most importantly, so much yearning. I really can't recommend it enough.

writing goals for 2024: Continue to work on descriptions of place and setting and finish at least one of the long fics I've half-written.

new works: 25 (on AO3)

*Leaving out Your Fate for Mine, which I only posted an epilogue for this year

Tagging @dreadfutures @heniareth @bumblewarden @greypetrel @vakarians-babe. I know things tracking progress can sometimes feel less than great and the new year can be hard, so I am intentionally leaving the tag list short. Please let me know if you'd like to do this and I will tag you immediately!

Blank version under the break:

words posted:

additional words written:

grand total of words:

fandoms:

highest kudos:

highest hit oneshot:

new things I tried:

fic I spent the most time on:

fic I spent the least time on:

favorite thing I wrote:

favorite thing(s) I read:

writing goals for 2024:

new works:

[penna-nomen]

2023 writing round up

rules: share what you wrote this year! it can be works you posted to ao3, wattpad, tumblr, or anywhere else! you can share everything you wrote or just the ones you’re most excited about.

Thanks for the tag @a-noble-dragon!

January: Posted the final chapter of my White Collar (Caffrey Conversation AU) holiday story Movie Night, and then I was busy writing my assignment for the Candy Hearts Exchange

February: sooo many stories for the Candy Hearts Exchange

Original Work: It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's... My Neighbor?

Original Work: Schrödinger's Cat

White Collar x Leverage crossover: The Fix-It Job

My first Schitt's Creek fic: Enchiladas

Murderbot Diaries: Shakespeare for SecUnits

March - July: I was figuring out what to do with my languishing novel. I planned a rewrite but wasn't really inspired because the publishing industry kept sounding more and more depressing. Finally a brainstorming session with Silbrith in July led to the idea of splitting the novel into short stories that I can post here or on Wattpad or something. Why pressure myself to fit into a form the publishing industry wants if the idea of traditional publishing just exhausts me? So that's the plan for 2024.

August: 2 works for the Crossworks Exchange

Emma x Pride & Prejudice: Wealthy, Wise, and Worthy

Supernatural x Doctor Who: Alien Hunters

September:

My first drabble! For White Collar: Terminology

October: 11 completed works for Flufftober, each in a different fandom, including 4 fandoms I'd never posted in before. Whew! Here are 5 of the stories:

Red, White & Royal Blue: Thanksgiving Plans

Pride & Prejudice: Love Waits for No PowerPoint Presentation

Calvin & Hobbes: Now You're Talking

White Collar: I've Got You

Schitt's Creek: Tropey Anniversary

November: continued posting chapters of my Flufftober story for White Collar: Across the Street. At this rate I'm going to finish Flufftober in January.

I also started writing a White Collar fairytale AU titled Fairest of Them All. Maybe I'll have something to post in January?

December: posted a White Collar story for an Operation More White Collar holiday prompt: Joyeux Noel, Joyeux Neal

Feel free to tag yourself if you want to join in! Positivity and self kindness are the watchwords here.

[tumbleweed-run]

The official word count of 2023 Kinktober is 70,794

Coming in on top a huge fan favorite is Like it Rough which serves as the heavy weight in all categories but especially words at a whopping 6,563.

Lowest word count was Sweet Dreams at 873.

And while I’m not tallying comments in seriousness I have quickly determined no one’s favorite is Adrenaline which is over 2 weeks old and boasts no comments.

[ani-coolgirl]

2023 Writing Roundup

I was poking around my stats page on AO3 and thought it might be cool to do a little yearly roundup for 2023.

My longest fic last year was my Wincest Reverse Big Bang entry Disobedience with 14,321 words! It's season 2 AU where Dean dies in Cold Oak instead of Sam. The gorgeous original art that inspired me was done by @yoannspn.

My most popular fic was 008 - cheeky, an early entry in my Every First Time series. As of this posting, it has 4,133 hits, 366 kudos, and 36 bookmarks! That's impressive for a silly fic about spanking!

However, a special shout out goes to What You're Looking For, a sad Dean Jr. POV one-shot written for the Wincest Wednesdays prompt "lost." It currently has the most comments of my 2023 fics, sitting at 26 comments! I'm proud to make so many people tear up, and I know it made the rounds on Tumblr as well.

So, what were your favorite works of mine from this past year? Which Every First Time entries you're looking forward to? Any challenges you think I should participate in? Let me know!

[randomfoggytiger]

1, 3 and 17 for the fic ask game!

Thanks for dropping in! :DDD

Hmmmm, tough call. Going to have to pic @welsharcher's Toothpaste (because it was a request and also), your O Holy Night multichapter, @television-overload's Field of Dreams, or Nan Dibble and @amplifyme's BATB fics. Can't narrow it down more than that, I'm afraid.

Mostly this year's reading mileage was spent on revisiting old paths and favorite resting places. You and the above mentioned and @agent-troi and @melforbes and touchstoneaf and Lapsed_Scholar and @ghostbustermelanieking and @o6666666 and @cecilysass and @settle-down-frohike and @aloysiavirgata and @slippinmickeys @suitablyaggrieved, and @leiascully, and @msrafterdark, and so many more pulled me through 2023~.

3. I think Vaznetti and deslea's (Ao3) Krcyek/Marita fics absolutely worked. (As a sidenote, I really like CherryIce's Ocean Breathes Salty-- because the focus is on Marita's recovery post One Son more so than the two potential romances-- and LuvTheBeez's Equanimity-- though Marita and Krycek were only in it a little bit.)

17. So, so many rereads. Gets me every time.

BUT, in the spirit of 2023 reads, I shall stick to all the fics I reblogged for fictober/Eight Nights of Mulder/Christmas. BUT, in the spirit of more specific fairness, I pick touchstoneaf's on-going Amor Fati (S9 AU) series. She gets the flavor of Mulder and Scully I see on the screen; and with baby Will??? I'm a dead man.

[selkiefinalist]

2023 (Writing) Year in Review

y’all it feels weird to throw this together because a.) it’s been 84 years and b.) who cares BUT it’s an old practice and i’m doing it, so:

after two years of not getting anything across the finish line, i wrote, finished, and posted things this year! 79,110 words worth of things, according to ao3!! plus i got to break a bunch of new pairings which is always satisfying, and i created a not-very-secret sideblog to write some lil tumblr fics when the mood strikes, which is not very often lol

maybe so (and maybe not) - newhook/nieto, 5k, E. this one came into being only because my partner in life told me i should start writing again and just write small things to ease back into it and oh, also, should write something featuring newy and nietsy that also featured the phrase “no ******* on the ‘stache” and if there’s one thing in life i like to do, it’s meet people’s expectations, so. that’s what happened.

made up - manson/macdermid, 13k, E. welp, this one just straight-up filled me with delight from concept to execution. it’s flawed in lots of ways i am sure but i do think my sweet spot in writing is probably that 15k-25k zone. that length gives me enough rope to work with but not so much that i cat’s cradle myself into knots with it, and is a realistic length to crank some stuff out in the limited time i have for writing these days and not feel too bad about it.

every new shade of green - ej/nate, 57k, E. ohhh the writing of this was so hard, which honestly i knew was my own fault because i wanted to do something hard. and i did it! and it’s done! there are a few pairings in my fandom history that really just do one over on me and this is one of them, and i think navigating the importance of the pairing itself with the length of the fic and what i wanted to accomplish with it as well as who it was gifted to is what made it so difficult. anyway you should all read it and validate my suffering.

one closed eye - macdonald/renouf, 2k, E(ish), alien au. wherein i circle back to the plan from earlier in the year and just write a small thing. is there anything more romantic in two call-ups finding love in a hopeless place, and one being immediately traded at the end of the season? they were so in love. jmac come back to us.

never (gritty) enough - gritty/nj devil, gritty/sanny, 1k, E, idk. i amused myself greatly with this concept yesterday after that one post circulated on my dash, wrote it fueled by exercise endorphins and then posted it fueled by late night, who cares? endorphins, it is perfect and beautiful in every way and also i am a genius

also created my first fest! very low-stakes low-participation but felt good to give back to fandom in a different way, i have always done best writing for fests because i love a deadline and hate letting people down. it’s still not too late to finish your stuff - prompts are available.

[crackinglamb]

AO3 Year End Roundup, 2023

Normally, I'd do this in a couple days, but we're close enough for government work (and I'm on a deliberate break anyhow, so nothing new is being posted). Normally this would also be a tag game, but I haven't seen it floating around yet, so...

Hey, you wanna do your own roundup? Go for it. Yes, I mean you (looking at you, DAFF crew). Consider this an open invite. Tag me back so I can see what y'all have been up to.

Words posted: 241,283 . This total has had subtracted from it the amount that already existed for the fic that carried over from last year (which was WG, of course). So this is actually what I posted this year.

Additional Words Written: ~166K. I have several WIP's going on in the background. One of which is finished and will begin posting after New Year's. Another of which is about halfway done. The rest are...procrastination projects/getting the wiggles out. They may never see the light of day. But they count as writing, so they are included.

Grand total of words: 407, 283 (goodness gracious)

Fandoms: 2

Works: 12, 11 of which were new.

Highest Kudos: Into the Current, at 271 (just like last year, I'm not counting WG since it wasn't new). The Iron Bull/OFC, rated E, 79K words, complete.

Highest Hit Oneshot: The Mighty Fall, at 706. Sookie Stackhouse/Eric Northman. Rated T, 2900 words.

New Things I Tried: I wrote a trio of fics for True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries this year. The WIP that's finished and waiting for the new year is a continuation of this series.

I also posted a ficlet I'd originally posted here on tumblr for archiving purposes. Some Years Into the Future...

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Driftwood, my Bullmance series. Writing ItC itself wasn't particularly long, about two months, but T3, the next fic, is still being written. At first it was all going to be one long fic, but then I decided I've had enough of epics (meaning any work significantly over 100K words), and split it into parts.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: The Mighty Fall. I have finally gotten to use the tag 'I wrote this instead of sleeping'. 🤣

Favorite Thing I Wrote: Usually, I have trouble with this category. I'm poly, you know. But this year, I actually DO have a fave. Okay...I have two.

How Deep the Bullet Lies - a gift for @rosella-writes, for the Solas Lovers Exchange. Solas/Cassandra Pentaghast with a whumpy open ending. Rated M, 4200 words.

More Than Mere Stone - a gift for my beloved @ir0n-angel in the same exchange. Solas/F!Trevelyan, pure fluff. Rated G, 1500 words.

Favorite Thing I Read: In Twain, by CatC. It's everything I wanted in a 'background character gets caught up in events' fic. With a sizzlingly hot Bullmance and So Much Cole. I think I've read it three or four times already. At least. If you need something comforting and wonderful, I cannot recommend it enough. It's simply delightful, and so is the author. Rated E, 172K words, WIP.

Something I Finished: I did it, at long last. I finished What a Wicked Game to Play. It was the focus of NaNo (and took literally three days once I put my mind to it, hence much of the other writing I did that hasn't been published). It feels really good to have my beloved Behemoth marked with a green checkmark. The story itself isn't finished, and I'll eventually write more for Imogen and Co., but for now, it is Done.

Writing Goals for 2024 – Keep on keeping on. I want to finish T3, so I can start posting it. I want to finish a couple other things from the WIP list. There will of course be a new Fluffuary prompt list. Biggest goal, however, is simply not to burn myself out. I've started waiting to publish until a fic is finished, which has done wonders for my stress levels. No more posting gaps on an in-progress fic.

Allow me to Gush about some things I wrote this year.

(Otherwise known as: honorable mentions)

Out of the Dark - Lark Cadash was once going to have an epic fic to her name. But I'm Tired, and frankly, I'm bored with rewriting the events of DA:I over and over again. So I've turned her into a series, where I can just put up oneshots and short chaptered things in no particular order that add up to one big story. This is one of them. Post-canon, Lark goes into the Deep Roads to find the answer to a riddle that's bugged her for her entire life. She gets more than she asked for, with a side serving of sad Solas. I've had many of the headcannons included in it for a long time, with no home. Now, they're out there in the world. Rated G, 4800 words.

What Lies Beneath - my actual giftfic for the Solas Lovers Exchange. I had such fun writing this, and had ideas for it as soon as I received the assignment. I got to set something in the Hissing Waste, which is one of my favorite places in the game, as well as write a polyship for my two favorite romances. F!Cadash/Solas/Iron Bull, rated T, 3400 words.

Maker Damned Fools - back in 2020, I wrote a Varric/Hawke short little thing for the first Fluffuary. I always wanted to go back and expand it into a fuller story. Add it to the pile of Things I Finished This Year. From their meeting to post-canon. Rated E, 32K words.

What a Wicked Game to Play - *deep satisfied sigh* It took two years and ten months to complete, with near constant weekly updates. It's 412K words by itself (not counting the rest of the series). It contains about 350 embedded images of either screenshots or fanart. It is both the highest hit (over 90K) and highest kudo'd (1535) work on my archive. Affectionately known as 'the Behemoth', extensively written with my signature yeeting of canon. Imogen McLean, MGIT, Inquisitor, beloved of Fen'Harel. I am stupendously proud of this work, but I am also incredibly happy it's done. I set out to write an epic, and I damn well succeeded. Rated E.

See y'all on the flipside! 💕

[merlyn-bane]

2023 Fic Roundup

I saw someone else do one of these and I thought it sounded like fun, so here we go.

Counting only things that I wrote and posted within this last year (mostly for sake of ease, because there's no fucking telling what all I've done in my WIP folder), I've written eleven fics and 164,569 words. Holy shit. Guess I've been busy 😅😅 Approximately 111k of that was Foelu.

In order posted:

On Social Maturity Across Species - Star Trek, Kirk/Spock

On Automatic Adrenal Responses - Star Trek, Kirk/Spock

Spending All Our Time (Trying To Get Back Home Again) - Star Trek, Kirk/Spock

Like A Puzzle - Star Wars, Cody/Obi-Wan

You Think I Wouldn't? - Star Wars, Cody/Quin

A Fast And Dedicated Learner - Star Wars, Cody/Luminara/Shaak/Depa

Still Got It - Star Wars, Cody/Mace

Expanding Horizons - Star Wars, Cody/Obi-Wan/Kit

Jedi Lineage Shenanigan Collection - Star Wars, gen with mentioned Codywan and Anidala

Foelu - Star Wars, Obi-Wan/Cody/Waxer/Boil/Rex/Helix

Tren's Xenoanatomy - Star Trek, Kirk/McCoy

[smallblueandloud]

2023 fic roundup

2023 was the year of the comeback. in 2021, i wrote about 25k; in 2022, i didn't even keep track. meanwhile, my total wordcount last year was 119,226 words. while that doesn't come close to my 200k from 2020, i am arguably prouder of last year and what it represented. my writing isn't dead! my abilities haven't vanished! i can have fun making art again :D

as always, the summer was the most productive for me. you can see that i wrote more in the spring than the fall -- this roughly corresponds to how i was doing during those times, lol. i had a Much Better spring semester than the fall. september was very rough, i had a very bad time, and it meant my mental health suffered for the rest of the year. but hey, at least i was writing essays :')

some more scattered thoughts:

i was arguably pretty consistent this year? may/june/july all had about the same wordcount (roughly) and i think that's cool. my goal isn't to be doing NaNos, it's to be writing consistently, so i'm very happy with this

ao3 says i published 67k in 2023. minus the first chapter of something out of a dream, which was published in 2020, i believe that's 65k or so total. i wrote 72k of fanfic last year, meaning that there's about 8k from last year still sitting in my google drive (a rough eyeball at my WIPs folder confirms this). these numbers don't QUITE make sense to me, since i used a fair bit of old material in what i published last year, but i'm not going to think about it too hard

i published fic for a whopping fifteen fandoms in 2023. nine of those were fandoms i'd never published anything for before! i am so, so proud of this stat. i remain multifandom as all hell and seeing that represented in my work makes me really :D

two fics -- be amazed by the sky and i got your back (and you got mine) -- were crossovers! i'd only ever written one crossover before (stay all day in the sun, which i still love dearly) and it was fun to play in these playgrounds (mostly by sticking the librarians into other universes, xD)

i published 25 fics last year! and five of those fics were less than 1k, which i also really love. this year i really tried to let go of my idea that my fics Had to be more than 4k (and super polished) before they could see the light of day. i think my writing has been more fun and less stressful because of that.

i polished off 4 multi-year WIPs last year: but the verse is sweet, something out of a dream, don't wanna see you go (but it's not forever), and all we can do today. it felt so, so good to finally get those out there. the only one i have left from The Great Hiatus of 2021-2022 is éponine de bergerac. i will finish that someday, but i'm letting her take her time, because she deserves it. (i DID make good progress on that fic, which is something at least!)

most popular fic of the year was sit there in your heartache, which. is a spirk fic written right after a relevant episode, so not a surprise lol. the fic that surprised me most is actually the sisterhood of the travelling main character plotpoints -- i kinda expected that one to vanish quietly, but the hatchetfield fandom is WAY more active than i expected! which is very cool :D

the fic with the fewest hits was sidenote, which doesn't surprise me, since the librarians isn't a very active fandom and it's a rareship within the fandom anyway. the people who DID read it were very sweet, so i am very grateful for them. (i'm doing fic with the fewest hits because i feel like it's better to focus on that than What Didn't Get Kudos)

i started 2024 with 5 WIPs. i actually already finished one (and then immediately started its sequel, whoops) (shoutout to the ds9 modern au, i'll make a real post about that sometime). none of these fics are particularly progressed, but i'll keep working on them and try to find the Finishing A Project Dopamine from ficlets if i need it.

i didn't really have any Writing Goals for 2023 aside from doing any writing at all, lol. i think for 2024 i want to try to get more consistent with my writing -- instead of doing x number of words per month (which usually happen over 3-4 Big Writing Days), i'd rather try to write for 5 days out of every week, or something like that. we'll see what i can get done.

in the meantime: thank you guys for listening. i'm proud of what i did last year, and i'm excited to see what happens next year :D

[phdmama]

This is a new thing I’m trying out, since I sort of lost the plot on self-promotion Saturday (should I bring that back? Maybe I’ll bring that back haha). Also maybe this will inspire me to make sure I’m posting every month!

Drarry

Perfectly Imperfect (3609 words, Explicit)

Harry is about to have sex with Draco Malfoy.

The only thing that’s weird about that sentence is that it’s not weird at all.

Waited for This (3141 words, Explicit)

Malfoy’s been working out, Harry ruminates, as he stands by the kitchen sink and drinks his first coffee of the day in preparation to go open the cafe. Probably doing his squats. Harry should ask him about his routine. Except then Malfoy might think Harry has been staring at his ass. Which he definitely has not been. It’s just… hard to miss when Malfoy is bent over the display case unloading his muffins and mini pies and cookies and whatnot.

Harry is only drooling over the croissants, not Malfoy and his posterior. And biceps. And eyes.

Larry

It Will Always Be You (15,131 words, Explicit)

If you had told Louis Tomlinson a year ago that he would be celebrating his birthday by kissing the man who is the love of his life on a Church Street park bench in Burlington VT as the snow drifted softly down, he would have told you that you were extremely imaginative. Or nuts. Both, maybe. Because he wasn’t looking for a career change, he wasn’t looking to relocate to Vermont, and he certainly wasn’t looking for love. But somehow, beyond expectation, he’s found all of these things.

It all starts with the rain.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

It all started with a mouse

For the public domain, time stopped in 1998, when the Sonny Bono Copyright Act froze copyright expirations for 20 years. In 2019, time started again, with a massive crop of works from 1923 returning to the public domain, free for all to use and adapt:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2019/

No one is better at conveying the power of the public domain than Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, who run the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain. For years leading up to 2019, the pair published an annual roundup of what we would have gotten from the public domain in a universe where the 1998 Act never passed. Since 2019, they've switched to celebrating what we're actually getting each year. Last year's was a banger:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/20/free-for-2023/#oy-canada

But while there's been moderate excitement at the publicdomainification of "Yes, We Have No Bananas," AA Milne's "Now We Are Six," and Sherlock Holmes, the main event that everyone's anticipated arrives on January 1, 2024, when Mickey Mouse enters the public domain.

The first appearance of Mickey Mouse was in 1928's Steamboat Willie. Disney was critical to the lobbying efforts that extended copyright in 1976 and again in 1998, so much so that the 1998 Act is sometimes called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Disney and its allies were so effective at securing these regulatory gifts that many people doubted that this day would ever come. Surely Disney would secure another retrospective copyright term extension before Jan 1, 2024. I had long arguments with comrades about this – people like Project Gutenberg founder Michael S Hart (RIP) were fatalistically certain the public domain would never come back.

But they were wrong. The public outrage over copyright term extensions came too late to stave off the slow-motion arson of the 1976 and 1998 Acts, but it was sufficient to keep a third extension away from the USA. Canada wasn't so lucky: Justin Trudeau let Trump bully him into taking 20 years' worth of works out of Canada's public domain in the revised NAFTA agreement, making swathes of works by living Canadian authors illegal at the stroke of a pen, in a gift to the distant descendants of long-dead foreign authors.

Now, with Mickey's liberation bare days away, there's a mounting sense of excitement and unease. Will Mickey actually be free? The answer is a resounding YES! (albeit with a few caveats). In a prelude to this year's public domain roundup, Jennifer Jenkins has published a full and delightful guide to The Mouse and IP from Jan 1 on:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/

Disney loves the public domain. Its best-loved works, from The Sorcerer's Apprentice to Sleeping Beauty, Pinnocchio to The Little Mermaid, are gorgeous, thoughtful, and lively reworkings of material from the public domain. Disney loves the public domain – we just wish it would share.

Disney loves copyright's other flexibilities, too, like fair use. Walt told the papers that he took his inspiration for Steamboat Willie from Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, making fair use of their performances to imbue Mickey with his mischief and derring do. Disney loves fair use – we just wish it would share.

Disney loves copyright's limitations. Steamboat Willie was inspired by Buster Keaton's silent film Steamboat Bill (titles aren't copyrightable). Disney loves copyright's limitations – we just wish it would share.

As Jenkins writes, Disney's relationship to copyright is wildly contradictory. It's the poster child for the public domain's power as a source of inspiration for worthy (and profitable) new works. It's also the chief villain in the impoverishment and near-extinction of the public domain. Truly, every pirate wants to be an admiral.

Disney's reliance on – and sabotage of – the public domain is ironic. Jenkins compares it to "an oil company relying on solar power to run its rigs." Come January 1, Disney will have to share.

Now, if you've heard anything about this, you've probably been told that Mickey isn't really entering the public domain. Between trademark claims and later copyrightable elements of Mickey's design, Mickey's status will be too complex to understand. That's totally wrong.

Jenkins illustrates the relationship between these three elements in (what else) a Mickey-shaped Venn diagram. Topline: you can use all the elements of Mickey that are present in Steamboat Willie, along with some elements that were added later, provided that you make it clear that your work isn't affiliated with Disney.

Let's unpack that. The copyrightable status of a character used to be vague and complex, but several high-profile cases have brought clarity to the question. The big one is Les Klinger's case against the Arthur Conan Doyle estate over Sherlock Holmes. That case established that when a character appears in both public domain and copyrighted works, the character is in the public domain, and you are "free to copy story elements from the public domain works":

https://freesherlock.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/klinger-order-on-motion-for-summary-judgment-c.pdf

This case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, who declined to hear it. It's settled law.

So, which parts of Mickey aren't going into the public domain? Elements that came later: white gloves, color. But that doesn't mean you can't add different gloves, or different colorways. The idea of a eyes with pupils is not copyrightable – only the specific eyes that Disney added.

Other later elements that don't qualify for copyright: a squeaky mouse voice, being adorable, doing jaunty dances, etc. These are all generic characteristics of cartoon mice, and they're free for you to use. Jenkins is more cautious on whether you can give your Mickey red shorts. She judges that "a single, bright, primary color for an article of clothing does not meet the copyrightability threshold" but without settled law, you might wanna change the colors.

But what about trademark? For years, Disney has included a clip from Steamboat Willie at the start of each of its films. Many observers characterized this as a bid to create a de facto perpetual copyright, by making Steamboat Willie inescapably associated with products from Disney, weaving an impassable web of trademark tripwires around it.

But trademark doesn't prevent you from using Steamboat Willie. It only prevents you from misleading consumers "into thinking your work is produced or sponsored by Disney." Trademarks don't expire so long as they're in use, but uses that don't create confusion are fair game under trademark.

Copyrights and trademarks can overlap. Mickey Mouse is a copyrighted character, but he's also an indicator that a product or service is associated with Disney. While Mickey's copyright expires in a couple weeks, his trademark doesn't. What happens to an out-of-copyright work that is still a trademark?

Luckily for us, this is also a thoroughly settled case. As in, this question was resolved in a unanimous 2000 Supreme Court ruling, Dastar v. Twentieth Century Fox. A live trademark does not extend an expired copyright. As the Supremes said:

[This would] create a species of mutant copyright law that limits the public’s federal right to copy and to use expired copyrights.

This elaborates on the Ninth Circuit's 1996 Maljack Prods v Goodtimes Home Video Corp:

[Trademark][ cannot be used to circumvent copyright law. If material covered by copyright law has passed into the public domain, it cannot then be protected by the Lanham Act without rendering the Copyright Act a nullity.

Despite what you might have heard, there is no ambiguity here. Copyrights can't be extended through trademark. Period. Unanimous Supreme Court Decision. Boom. End of story. Done.

But even so, there are trademark considerations in how you use Steamboat Willie after Jan 1, but these considerations are about protecting the public, not Disney shareholders. Your uses can't be misleading. People who buy or view your Steamboat Willie media or products have to be totally clear that your work comes from you, not Disney.

Avoiding confusion will be very hard for some uses, like plush toys, or short idents at the beginning of feature films. For most uses, though, a prominent disclaimer will suffice. The copyright page for my 2003 debut novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom contains this disclaimer:

This novel is a work of fiction, set in an imagined future. All the characters and events portrayed in this book, including the imagined future of the Magic Kingdom, are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. The Walt Disney Company has not authorized or endorsed this novel.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250196385/downandoutinthemagickingdom

Here's the Ninth Circuit again:

When a public domain work is copied, along with its title, there is little likelihood of confusion when even the most minimal steps are taken to distinguish the publisher of the original from that of the copy. The public is receiving just what it believes it is receiving—the work with which the title has become associated. The public is not only unharmed, it is unconfused.

Trademark has many exceptions. The First Amendment protects your right to use trademarks in expressive ways, for example, to recreate famous paintings with Barbie dolls:

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/mattel-walkingmountain-9thcir2003.pdf

And then there's "nominative use": it's not a trademark violation to use a trademark to accurately describe a trademarked thing. "We fix iPhones" is not a trademark violation. Neither is 'Works with HP printers.' This goes double for "expressive" uses of trademarks in new works of art:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_v._Grimaldi

What about "dilution"? Trademark protects a small number of superbrands from uses that "impair the distinctiveness or harm the reputation of the famous mark, even when there is no consumer confusion." Jenkins says that the Mickey silhouette and the current Mickey character designs might be entitled to protection from dilution, but Steamboat Willie doesn't make the cut.

Jenkins closes with a celebration of the public domain's ability to inspire new works, like Disney's Three Musketeers, Disney's Christmas Carol, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Disney's Around the World in 80 Days, Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Disney's Snow White, Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Disney's Cinderella, Disney's Little Mermaid, Disney's Pinocchio, Disney's Huck Finn, Disney's Robin Hood, and Disney's Aladdin. These are some of the best-loved films of the past century, and made Disney a leading example of what talented, creative people can do with the public domain.

As of January 1, Disney will start to be an example of what talented, creative people give back to the public domain, joining Dickens, Dumas, Carroll, Verne, de Villeneuve, the Brothers Grimm, Twain, Hugo, Perrault and Collodi.

Public domain day is 17 days away. Creators of all kinds: start your engines!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/#free-mickey

Image: Doo Lee (modified) https://web.law.duke.edu/sites/default/files/images/centers/cspd/pdd2024/mickey/Steamboat-WIllie-Enters-Public-Domain.jpeg

CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

[bugtransport]

Kamen Rider V3 Finished: January 14, 2023

warning: this is over 3700 words and has pictures so buckle up. you cannot and will not get me to proofread this any more than i already have

Kamen Rider V3 is the show of all time. In case you didn’t know I’ve just decided that I’m going to watch all Showa Kamen Rider in order because when I started watching Kamen Rider I made some kind of joke like “oh, wouldn’t it be funny if I just went back and started from the very beginning?” except I have also never made a joke in my life so had to then proceed to do that and then by the time I finished KR 1971 I was so violently in love with Hongo and entirely charmed by the cheesy 70s kids tv of it all that I just had to keep going. That’s where I’m at mentally. That’s what was in my mind going into the show. A lot happened and a lot changed through the run so I think honestly we’ve gotta be true to the series and talk about it in 3 sections. 

PART 1: V3 is invincible!  This is the part where all the time we spent with 1971 Rider pays off. 

Pictured: a guy about to get his shit rocked

God, what a way to start off. Bringing back the two guys from the previous season and then blowing them up with a nuke in the 2nd episode. It was so special and so charming to have them build the new protagonist themselves? I spent a good 2 months running through 1971 and I was really sad at the thought of having to say goodbye to the boys… but I didn’t have to because they lived on through V3. They also lived on somewhere else. They were fine post-nuke. Good for them! 

I had no idea what this show was going to be like going into it. 1971 was so episodic that when they introduced the whole two monsters, two episodes, 26 secrets over the course of 52 episodes hook I was like oh hell yeah, it’s gonna be like the last one but even cooler. They ended up only sticking with that format for the first part but you know what? I liked what I saw while it was happening. I genuinely wouldn’t have been mad if they had just kept going with it. I’m glad they didn’t, but it was a cute little premise. I liked thinking about what special features Hongo and Hayato thought fit to put in him and what could have possibly prompted them to come up with them – because they had to have thought about this before borging Kazami, right? There’s no way they came up with that all on the fly. Not necessarily that they were planning on changing someone else (Hayato may have thought about it in passing, Hongo would be so staunchly opposed that imagining it would probably send him doomspiraling again) but… they could have been planning on making upgrades to themselves. They’re already borged. They’ve gotten themselves into situations before where they did get out of it, but they could have come out of it thinking “wow, this would have been a lot easier if I could, for instance, overclock my body, even at the expense of not being able to transform for 3 hours following,” and then gone and given that power to Kazami when they had the opportunity to. It’s an incredibly sweet concept; it’s like hearing the meaning behind the names parents give their kids, the good traits that they want to pass down to them. It gets me right in the heart. I love thinking about it. I love that V3 is so cute and squishy. I love imagining that Hayato was the one to take the lead on that (he’s a photographer, he’s artistic) while Hongo handled all the more technical stuff. He has both the powers and the dreams of Kamen Riders 1 and 2. It makes me mushy… I had such a good time with ‘71 Rider. 

Pictured: proper surgical procedures

Pictured: two guys who had no idea how the shit that ended up working out either

For as cute as V3 is both as a suit and as a concept Kazami is fucking nuts from the get go. He got borged, popped right up off the operating table, pinned a guy to the wall by his throat, and basically went “yeah, I have no idea how strong I am right now, wanna find out together?” He almost let a dude drown. The guy convinced Tachibana to beat him up with a wrecking ball for training purposes. He’s just unhinged in a really fun way especially coming straight off of Hongo, who has maybe the world’s worst case of anxiety. Kazami has really none of that and despite having his family killed in front of him he’s shockingly… well adjusted? Maybe he’s just stuck in the first stage of grief. We’ll touch on this later.

Pictured: your weird uncle who's just down for anything

This section of the show was pure fun. High adrenaline explosions and fights and new abilities and goofy monsters and explosions and Kazami hanging off the side of his motorcycle speeding through the streets while being shot at and uh did I mention explosions? It’s so fucking good. ‘71 Rider was them trying to figure out how to do this show (which was relentlessly charming – I loved seeing them try new things and new effects and get into the groove with the pacing and characterizations and feel of everything going on and by the end of the show you can tell that everyone working on it felt much more confident than they did in the beginning) and the time that they spent getting into that groove made carrying on in a similar fashion pretty seamless. The jank is charming. Tachibana whips as usual. Shigeru was cute; all the kids were, they’re kids and they all seemed to be having a blast being in Kamen Rider. It warms my heart every time I see them. Junko was… there. They did try and introduce what I think was supposed to be a Taki-type character in the Interpol guy (whose name I can’t even remember, sorry king, you were such a non-player in this show) but Kazami is just such a force of nature that he mainly ended up seeming scared and confused and really ended up just in the background kinda standing there awkwardly when anything was going on.

Pictured: world's worst first dates

That’s I think the biggest difference between 1971 and V3 here: because Hongo and Hayato had each other and Taki all as sort of equals and balancers in 1971, when you did get your monster-of-the-week type character building they have each other to bounce off of (i.e. Taki trying to lick poison and Hongo stopping him, the scene when Hongo and Hayato are splitting up after a Double Riders episode on the boat and they both have internal monologues about where they’re at emotionally being borgs) but Kazami doesn’t have anyone to bounce off of and contrast him. He does pretty much everything alone. All the decisions he makes, no matter how off the fucking wall, are his sole responsibility. This begins to compound as time goes on and leads us to… 

PART 2: DSM-5 speedrun This is the part where things start to sink in.

Hongo and Hayato come back for a couple episodes! This rules. This is so fun. We get some Double Rider action (I’ve missed this so much; Kazami rules but it’s so fun to see people fighting side by side as equals and it not just being like, Tachibana clubbing a few goons on the nog while Kazami wrecks a monster) and the two boys get to see how Kazami’s doing in action to both check up on him and their handiwork. Kazami seems really happy to have them back fighting with him! Hongo looks phenomenal as usual. Hayato has heels on which is very important to note, thank you. We get a little game of psychic marco polo when Hayato and Hongo get kidnapped and it’s up to Hayato to come find them and rescue them, just like in the last episode of 1971 Rider. It’s so fun. They kick Destron ass together and they laugh and Hongo gets to reconnect with Tachibana and the new rider kids a little. Then they leave, as we always knew they would. And Kazami is left alone again.

Pictured: they are fucking standing

Hongo and Hayato reappearing and leaving again also marks where the cracks in Kazami really start to show. 

I mean yeah alright he’s always been a little nuts but at one point I stopped around two thirds of the way through one of the episodes with Hongo and Hayato in them and decided to catalog everything that Kazami had done so far that day. He:

Got exploded in a car crash

Impersonated a man

Got exploded in a car crash again

Transformed upside down

Somehow called his bike down into the Destron surgery chamber

Decided to do donuts in said surgery chamber, terrorizing all the scientists in there (side note: do you think that a certain scientist was in there too?)

This is now a normal day for Kazami. I love this interpretation of why the shift happened but personally I like to think of the tipping point as being when Kazami realized that he was having way more fun fighting alongside two people who were like him now that he was acclimated to being a cyborg – much different than the fighting he did at the start of the series with Hongo and Hayato where he was basically a newborn and just learning the ropes – and so, when they left again, he felt their absence much more acutely than he did the first time, and maybe because the wound has been opened again when he’s not bowled-over-busy figuring out his new borg life, he at this point actually starts grieving his family. Like I mentioned before: Tachibana is maybe the closest thing Kazami has through the series to having someone to fight with, and he’s just some fucking guy. Which is nuts! Kamen Rider is at its peak when it’s about two boys. I stand by that. When we have two boys they can share the trauma of what’s going on around them and support each other. When we only have one boy, that boy has to carry the weight of the whole world alone. Tachibana can try all he can but at the end of the day he’s still just a guy. He can only try and understand all these tortured boys he takes under his wing from the outside. 

Pictured: he's trying his best to understand kids these days

Pretty much every single episode post Hongo Hayato return involves at least one kid with no family. Kazami obviously begins to see himself in them - this becomes so heavy handed by the end of the series that he sees a parentless kid playing a harmonica, takes the harmonica from the kid, plays a song of his own, and reminisces about playing the same song for his sister back when she was alive. It’s in no way subtle. That’s not at all a bad thing! If you’re complaining about something being a bit too heavy handed in what is after all a kids show I don’t really know what to tell you. Also, what can I say, I’m a documented slut for repetition as a narrative device. I think it whips. I love time loops. I love callbacks to things earlier in the series. I don’t know if half this shit is intentional but I’m having fun with it. With how hard they hit the Dead Family Connection between Kazami and these kids I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say yeah? Sure, why not. For this example specifically I think it really serves to show just how often this is now on Kazami’s mind. It’s something he can’t really get away from in the same way he was at the beginning of the series. I think that’s also why I didn’t at all mind the episodes that were kinda early-Hongo 1971 rehashes before the Riderman eps… Kazami wanted to be borged in the beginning and didn’t really have issues regarding his new life until around this point. It was in my opinion a nice little way to bring his newfound borg issues into play. I personally just like the early Hongo episodes too so I’m biased, and aware of that fact. 

Pictured: the world's most emotional harmonica solo

Back to Kazami though: if you want a really good example of how he’s coping, here’s a video of him kidnapping a Destron goon and threatening to torture them for information. He’s really not doing well. He’s beginning to get a little black and white in his ways of thinking while the narrative is trying to bring in some gray areas by bringing in a couple one-off characters who start to shed a little light on Destron’s recruitment tactics and why, theoretically, someone might join up with them, which is something I thought really interesting and something that I wanted to see more of after the Ambassador Hell waffling in 1971 Rider. I’m glad that we did get to see that! Kazami again gets to have his shit rocked a little when someone that he thought he knew gets sucked into working for Destron. I honestly don’t think that Tachibana is any help here at all, the man comes across as kind of old school and again, pretty black and white thinking. But actually wait… I mentioned Riderman earlier, right? I think to further think about Kazami and what’s going on with him we gotta take this fucking post to… 

PART 3: Riderman… what, do you ride men or something? This is the part where I talk about the ending of the show. 

Pictured: two boys, twice

Kamen Rider is a show that works best when it’s about two boys. Yuki Joji is a Destron scientist (incorrectly) accused of being a traitor which leads to him losing his arm in a vat of acid and getting rescued by several other Destron scientists who end up attaching a borg arm to Yuki to save him, which turns him into Riderman. Now. This on its own is a departure from how Kamen Rider has treated Shocker/Destron scientists that you’re supposed to be sympathetic to in the past. Before we’ve really only gotten the whole “oh yeah, these dudes were kidnapped and forced to borg people against their will” song and dance which, sure, that’s fine, I think there’s a lot more to unpack about the morality of science than we care to get into in this show (thinking about you, guy in 1971 Rider who made a ray that just turned people into skeletons (??) like why the hell were you doing that. How were you planning on spinning that as being a good and moral thing to do in the first place. How on earth were you at all surprised when Shocker was like “oh actually we could totally use that for evil.”) but you know I’ll take this for what it is. Now you’re coming out of the gate swinging with a guy being saved by people who are clearly more loyal to him than they are to Destron but – all of them still work for Destron, that’s not a question. They all seem to see this as some kind of weird mistake, but not indicative of the organization as a whole. They still believe in the mission that they’re doing there. While Yuki is out for revenge on the people directly responsible for taking his arm and forcing him to get borged, he’s still openly fine with Destron. He doesn’t want to work with Kamen Rider. Kazami, who has gotten through the whole series pretty much through sheer hardheadedness alone, is finally matched with someone just as willful as he is, and oh my fucking god does he enjoy this. 

Pictured: yeah you're one to talk

Yuki is stuck in the middle of a bunch of stuff. He’s neither really allied with Destron nor with Kamen Rider. He’s neither fully cyborg nor fully human. His little helmet – it only half covers his face. He’s helping his enemy to save kids. He’s getting pulled in every single direction all at once. Kazami, maybe thinking about all the stuff he’s heard about Hongo and Hayato and their time fighting together (because he has to have heard this, right, he’s got to know their stories) is relentless in pursuing him (“I thought you were different from other Destron members!”). And it works – Yuki realizes that Destron is evil and that Kamen Rider is in fact his (actual quote) angelic savior but it doesn’t even stop there, because he throws himself in front of V3 at one point (sort of similar to Kazami throwing himself in front of Hongo and Hayato in the first ep, come to think of it) to take a blow for the Destron leader because it’s at this point it’s revealed that he was raised and essentially groomed into their organization and while he’s trying his best to unlearn all the stuff he was raised believing, it’s still hard and that tears him apart internally even more because at this point he has joined V3 and is helping him and has renounced Destron but even if you are starting to unlearn things that you have seen firsthand proof of being incorrect… what about those guys that saved him from the acid vat. What about small little happy moments he might have had growing up that kept him going this long even when he was apparently suicidal (yes that is in the show) that weren’t directly Destron things but involved people around him there. What about the accomplishments he made while working for them. These are all tied up in something horrific and the recontextualization of all of these memories that he’s had over the years has got to be incredibly rough to go through. It’s rough to go through on a smaller scale! It is insane to look at the fact that this arc started on episode 43 of a 52 episode show. The burn is instant; the boys go up like a pack of matches, they are from the start so intertwined, such challenges to each other physically and mentally that it doesn’t seem rushed because of course they would be drawn to each other this way. 

Pictured: what, do you ride men or someth

I feel like sometimes characters who take this role can be written in a way that comes across as a little too angsty and I don’t always connect with that but I don’t get that from Yuki. All of his reactions really come across as understandable for being in the situation that he’s in. He’s been hurt by something that he trusted and after stepping back from that learned some really terrible things about them. Of course he’s gonna be conflicted. He’s a stuffy little nerd. I really, really like the way they played him. I’m not going to bring my personal experiences in here, but believe me when I say: I get it! And I’m so incredibly impossibly proud of him for changing. 

Pictured: things are starting to add up

They go even harder into the Destron/borg issues now – we have episode 49 where literally everything that could possibly happen happens: Kazami gets hacked and loses the ability to control his borg strength, there’s a girl who gets tricked into working for Destron without realizing that they’re bad, Yuki has to take the two of them and break back into his old Destron lab stomping grounds to be able to fix Kazami up… it’s nuts! How fucking fun is this?! Boys with so many issues but like, they have each other, you know? I’m breaking through the walls. I’m tearing them down. I’m renovating. Yuki’s all in now, that I think was maybe one of the most loyal things he could have possibly done for Kazami. Revisiting this place that brought you so much pain and using your skills to fix someone up and do good for them. 

For as much as I’ve been talking up until now I don’t really know how to talk about the last two episodes. Kazami and Yuki get split up and have to infiltrate a Destron base separately because they’re on a pretty strict time limit and can’t really waste time meeting back up with each other. Yuki overhears a conversation where the Destron leader calls him a coward – after everything that he’s done, and he decides to go take control of the rocket that’s about to blast off and fly into Tokyo and detonate it elsewhere with himself inside it. In the second to last episode. 

Pictured: a guy about to get his shit rocked

Now. Remember when I told you about how I love how repetition is used as a narrative device? Kazami’s story is bookended with people blowing themselves up to both save humanity and also to help him out. To contrast Hongo and Hayato though, Yuki’s… mostly human. I think Kazami makes a fair enough assumption at this point. Same one as you or I would probably make if our boyfriend blew up in front of us. This shit hits nuts for me. What a weird way to wrap back around and bring this thing full circle, giving us a man who has now once more lost someone who was very, very important to him, really one of the very few people who he has who can understand certain things about him, who was willing to give his life to help Kazami accomplish what was originally meant to be revenge for the family he lost at the start. This isn’t a happy ending to the show, this isn’t Taki flying back to the US with an emotional goodbye at the airport, this is Kazami just up and leaving and riding off into the distance. Not checking in with Tachibana or anyone, just going. You can’t really fault him. After everything that’s happened I’d need a moment of quiet and a little bit of time to think too. 

From the beginning Kazami was warned about becoming a cyborg and wanted to do it anyway and got himself into a situation where he had to become one. Honestly I’m inclined to believe that he did expect being borged to be the end result of essentially sacrificing himself or at least for Hongo to be more sympathetic to his desire after he helped them out of that jam they found themselves in, but who’s to say… regardless, it’s a really fun show about a compounding tragedy and loss and challenging your views and a guy working through one hell of a lot. 

Pictured: say the gender line, king

YEAH FUCK YEAH I RECOMMEND THIS ONE but maybe watch 1971 rider first i think you’ll get more out of it that way lol

BONUS CAPS FOR EVERYONE WHO MADE IT THIS FAR:

incredible special effects

they're doing it standing up

you know exactly what i'm getting at with these two

this one's just real good

>:|

okay that's all for real. BYE